Priests' Missive Reveals Tensions in Chicago Archdiocese

By PAM BELLUCK

Published: November 14, 1997

CHICAGO, Nov. 13—
Six months after Francis E. George's installation as Archbishop of Chicago, one of the most influential archdioceses in the country, a group of prominent priests here has written a memorandum expressing concern that Archbishop George has not been consulting with pastors and has been too quick to micromanage even the smallest matters.

The memorandum to the Archbishop, which the authors had not intended to be made public, suggests that a year after the death of the much-loved Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, his successor is experiencing a somewhat rocky adjustment.

Archbishop George's reception in Chicago is considered significant because he was seen as a harbinger of the kind of leader Pope John Paul II might install in other large cities with aging Archbishops, including New York.

Archbishop George, who previously served as bishop in Portland, Ore. and Yakima, Wash., came here with a reputation as a theologically conservative intellectual who, while compassionate on issues of poverty and race, would firmly support the Vatican's teachings against abortion, birth control, doctor-assisted suicide and its ban on the ordination of women as priests. Cardinal Bernardin was viewed as a moderate with a talent for fostering collegiality and consensus-building among Chicago's notably independent-minded priests.

''Many rumors, news reports, speculations during the interval before the assignment focused on the idea that conservative or reactionary forces in The Vatican intended to appoint a new archbishop who would shape up this wild group in Chicago,'' said the four-page memorandum. ''This probably colored our expectations and sensitivity to Archbishop George's initial words and actions. Only time will tell about all of this.''

R. Scott Appleby, director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame, called the memorandum ''a peremptory shot across the bow'' and added, ''They are reminding him of the independence of the Chicago presbyterate and that he's going to have to work with them.''

The memorandum summarized a meeting last month of 43 priests, some among the region's best known, including the leader of Chicago's cathedral. The 43 are part of the Pastors' Forum, a loosely organized group of 175 of the archdiocese's 380 priests that meets to discuss church issues.

While written in a respectful tone, the report spelled out the priests' desire for a certain degree of autonomy and said Archbishop George has earned the ''unfortunate nickname of 'Francis the Corrector.' '' It said that he directed the order in which lay ministers should take communion, and ordered that kneelers be reinstalled in the remodeled seminary chapel, that priests wear gray vestments at funerals, and that a high school change its religion textbook. It also said that he failed to consult with pastors before he voiced his opinion in a debate over gay rights in a Chicago suburb and before he proposed bringing in priests from foreign countries to fill a shortage.

''We will resist being treated as branch managers for some huge international corporation who simply take orders from headquarters,'' it said. ''We expect the flow of communications, both listening and speaking, to go both ways.''

The report called the issues relatively minor, but said, ''Our concern is that your entry has left damage in your wake.''

Were the issues ''reflective of different theological frames of reference?'' the priests wondered. ''Someone said it may be a case of bishops are from Saturn and pastors are from Jupiter.'' They added, ''We want to live on the same planet.''

Archbishop George said that he did not view the memorandum, which was sent to him on Oct. 10, as ''a crisis,'' and that he had since been trying to address the concerns it outlined in meetings with pastors. He said that some claims were ''misinformed,'' but that in other cases he may have given the impression he was making a pronouncement when he merely intended to ask questions.

''They were critical of my style and I have to take that seriously,'' he said. ''These are important members of the presbyterate.''

Archbishop George said that because he is a Chicago native, it was possible that ''I may be a little more relaxed than I ought to be.'' He said he still had much to learn about leading the country's second-largest archdiocese, with 2.3 million ethnically and ideologically diverse Catholics. ''I can perhaps think that I know more than I do.''

The report was made public this week by a group of conservative Catholics who said they wanted to call attention to what they called a ''condescending and arrogant'' effort ''on the part of the small number of socially, politically and theologically liberal pastors to intimidate the Archbishop.''

But Archbishop George said he did not know the conservative group and did not need to be defended because he was not being attacked. Several priests accused the group of politically motivated distortion.

Experts on Catholic governance said the report should be viewed in the context of Chicago's archdiocese, run for years by John Cardinal Cody, a monarchical Archbishop who alienated many priests, and then by Cardinal Bernardin, expert at pulling together others' concerns into decisions that seemed moderate.

''Priests in Chicago are used to organizing, are used to expressing their views, whereas in most dioceses in the country the typical response of pastors to a bishop they don't like is to ignore him,'' said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Professor Appleby said many priests, particularly in Chicago, trained in the tolerant age of Vatican II, see themselves as mediators between church orthodoxy and the realities of their parishioners' lives. For example, he said, while church doctrine is clear that abortion and birth control are sins, some pastors believe it is best to be flexible on the use of birth control so that parishioners will not face a decision about abortion, and some feel that even those parishioners who have abortions should be treated with more compassion than condemnation.

One signer of the memorandum, the Rev. Robert E. McLaughlin, pastor of Holy Name Cathedral, said: ''This report should not be taken as displeasure with the Archbishop. What we were trying to communicate is that we are in a transition period, and, like all transition periods, it can be somewhat painful.''

Threaded throughout the report is a feeling of uncertainty and pain from the loss of Cardinal Bernardin. Indeed, much of the memorandum expresses the priests' desire to know what footing they are on with Archbishop George.

They wrote, ''you are so intelligent and have thought many things out so well.'' And they made a point of encouraging the Archbishop's compassionate stance on issues like racism and housing for the poor.

''We want you to be a great Archbishop,'' the report concluded.

Photo: Archbishop Francis E. George of Chicago, installed just six months ago, is facing respectful dissent. (Steve Kagan for The New York Times)